Intra-oral adsorption and release of aroma compounds following in-mouth wine exposure

• 6–43% of the aroma added to wine is adsorbed by oral mucosa.
• Oral adsorption depends on the chemical characteristics of the aroma compound.
• Compound hydrophobicity is not the sole mechanism triggering oral aroma adsorption.
• Intra-oral SPME is a useful and easy method for oral aroma monitoring.
• The strength of aroma–oral interactions determines the extent of intra-oral release.

Wine “after-odour” defined as the long lasting aroma perception that remains after wine swallowing is an outstanding characteristic in terms of wine quality but a relatively unstudied phenomenon. Among the different parameters that might affect wine after-odour, the adsorption of odorants by the oral mucosa could be important but has been little explored. In this work, the impact of the chemical characteristics of aroma compounds on intra-oral adsorption was assessed by an in vivo approach that determined the amounts of odorants remaining in expectorated wine samples. In addition, the subsequent aroma release after in-mouth wine exposure was studied by means of intra-oral SPME/GC–MS using three different panellists. Oral adsorption of the aroma compounds added to the wines ranged from 6% to 43%, depending on their physicochemical characteristics. A progressive intra-oral aroma decrease at different decay rates depending on compound type and panellist was also found. The strength of the aroma–oral mucosa interactions seems to explain these results more than the amount of compound adsorbed by the oral mucosa.